Garbage levy sounds like a deal

I read with great concern Gi- rard residents are voting on a renewal levy for garbage pick-up. It is for a 0.8-mill renewal that would cost the owner of a $100,000 home roughly $22 a year, while the city would receive $75,641 in annual revenue.

I am throwing this out to the Austintown trustees. Why can’t Austintown have a levy for our garbage pick-up? Currently I pay around $180 a year. This would be a great service and savings for the taxpayers in Austintown.

On the subject of savings, why do we only have a choice of one cable company in Austintown? South Carolina has a choice of at least 3 cable companies, one being Armstrong, which is significantly lower than Austintown. I always thought it was called a monopoly when you only have one company to choose from and they can raise prices at will.

Now words of praise for our Austintown trustees who won’t be getting the “pumpkin head” award for the first time since I lived in Austintown (1998) for having trick or treat hours coinciding with the surrounding communities. It’s about time.

Andy Pappagallo Sr., Mineral Ridge

Not a fan of Gov. Romney

The two candidates of this year’s presidential race are Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and President Barack Obama. The best one to pick would be to keep our president for four more years.

Obama has done everything he could do right for our country so far.

Is health care is good or bad? If Mitt Romney takes office he wants to make retired people pay tens of thousands of dollars during their retirement period. Would you like that? I know I wouldn’t. Obama is making you pay a little here and a little there.

Do you like your job? Well if you put Romney in office, he wants to take the major jobs, like GM, and send them over seas, mainly to China. My mom works for a steel manufacturer. Do you think she wants to give up her job because Romney is in office? No. Former Gov. Ted Strickland told everyone at the Democratic National Convention that to Romney “American workers are like a spreadsheet.” To him all profits are created equal, whether on shores or off. That’s why companies Romney had interest in were dubbed out sourcing pioneers.”

Also colleges will start asking for more money. In four or five years, I will be going to college and don’t want to have to work 15 million jobs and still be unable to go.

Katelynn McBride, Burghill

Stimulus was, and is, a scam

Where to begin? It is true that the GOP has characterized the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) as an “economic scam.” It is (although passed with almost no Republican support) also the law. Whether any legislator approves or disapproves of a law is, in fact, beside the point in providing constituent services. If providing such services (helping a voter navigate the federal/state regulatory maze) for all of one’s constituents (voters) is hypocrisy then hypocrisy is built into the system.

I would note that this same law (ARRA) entails mandatory reporting requirements. That is, the president is legally obligated to issue quarterly reports on the “success” of his “stimulus” through September 2013. The administration stopped issuing the required reports after the second quarter of 2011. We are thus four quarters of reports behind. Does anyone not believe that this “failure to report” is not based on political considerations?

As noted above, there are now systemic financial problems with all forms of government (Social Security Disability, Medicare, and Medicaid) largess. This is particularly so in the context of a recession and the major problem does not lie with “corrupt” or “hypocritical” Republicans (or Democrats). The simple fact is that we (U.S) did not have the money for a stimulus. It was borrowed. The other simple fact is that (whether a “scam” or not) it (ARRA) did not “work” (based on the Administration’s own words and premises).

Richard R. Thompson, Ellwood City, Pa.

Who gets the hamburger?

Well they’re at it again.

The same old Republican menu of steak for the chief and hamburger for the rest of us.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have yet to furnish details for their Five Point Plan. Maybe after the election. However, their plans for cutting funding for Amtrak, Pubic Broadcasting Television and National Public Radio will cut jobs not create them.

The R & R team concerning Amtrak will cut jobs and thereby reduce the flow of money into the railroad retirement pension fund as Amtrak employees also pay into the plan. Therefore, current and future railroad retires will see reductions in pensions they have paid into the plan which at one time was ten percent of their gross wages.

The idols of the Tea Party are honing their axes to chop down P.B.S. and N.P.R. by reducing funds for these non-commercial media outlets. Again, this will cut jobs, not create them.

The Tea Party (whose goal is to return us to the environs of the 19th century) heroes and original members were so patriotic and modest that they disguised themselves as Indians in order to give credit to their native American brethren for brewing a giant pot of tea in Boston Harbor.

Dean a. Roush, Sebring

Let me count the reasons

I will not vote for Gov. Romney for the following reasons, among others:

1. Denial of Massachusetts health care bill. This bill was written by the Heritage Foundation because they were upset by people who didn't own health insurance but who when needing health care, went to hospital emergency rooms and were treated cost free. This cost was then picked up by the rest of the population who have health insurance.

The bill was carefully worked out with the Democrats, especially Sen. Kennedy, so it became a bipartisan piece of legislation. Further, it was to be a model for a national law which in fact became the Affordable Health Care Act.

Now, Gov. Romney campaigns by saying that the first thing that he would do if elected would be to void this law which he called Obamacare. He refused to be proud of a bipartisan health care bill which seems to be moving along smoothly in Massachusetts without their citizens wanting to get rid of it because it isn't working.

2. Stashing cash in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. The governor has an unknown amount of his vast fortune in foreign banks. He says he is paying 13 percent of his income in Federal income tax, much lower than President Obama at 33 percent.

3. Paying a million dollars for a horse for his wife. When his wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, they learned that riding a horse was therapeutic. They bought a horse for her, which cost in excess of $1 million and sent it to the Olympics.

Nothing in any of these three items makes a contribution to society. There is nothing in this lifestyle that would indicate that there will be any empathy for any of us citizens.